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Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro has claimed an image of his predecessor the late socialist leader Hugo Chavez has appeared on the wall of an underground construction site.

Maduro, who showed a photo of a white-plaster wall with marks that appear like eyes and a nose, said Chavez's face had briefly appeared to workers building a new subway line in Caracas in the middle of the night.

Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro (L) shows a metro tunnel wall with an image which he says is the face of the late Hugo Chavez Credit: Reuters

Speaking on state television, the president said: "My hair stands on end just telling you about it. Who is that face? That gaze is the gaze of the fatherland that is everywhere around us, including in inexplicable phenomena."

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Henrique Capriles, Venezuela's opposition leader and governor of the state of Miranda, addresses media. Credit: Reuters

Venezuelan opposition leader Henrique Capriles said he will challenge the late Hugo Chavez's preferred successor for the presidency of the South American OPEC nation next month, setting the stage for a bitter campaign.

Capriles, a 40-year-old state governor, will face election favourite and acting President Nicolas Maduro. The pair have until Monday to register their candidacies for the vote on April 14th.

The election will decide whether Chavez's self-styled socialist and nationalist revolution will live on in the country with the world's largest proven oil reserves.